Magnetic tape-based data storage systems provide secure, reliable, cost-efficient, and scalable solutions for information processing in business, industry, and government service applications. Cartridge-based magnetic tape systems combine efficiency and ease of use in regulated bulk storage environments, and are adaptable for use with online, nearline, offline, and offsite infrastructures to relay large datasets, ensure regulatory compliance, and safeguard critical information while lowering data storage costs and service time.
Magnetic tape storage media provide high data density and capacity, with adaptable performance criteria suitable for a wide range of backup, archiving, and portable data storage needs. As storage densities and access speeds increase, however, substantial engineering demands are made on the tape cartridge and servo system, which must provide precise speed control and head positioning in order to quickly, accurately, and reliably read and write data to and from the recording medium.
To provide precision head positioning, servo tracks are recorded onto the medium during the formatting or manufacturing process. The servo control system reads the servo patterns, and uses a time-based pattern conversion to determine head position based on the servo signal. Representative servo system technologies are described in the following U.S. patent documents, each of which is incorporated by reference herein: Molstad et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,542,325, TIME-BASED SERVO FOR MAGNETIC STORAGE MEDIA, issued Apr. 1, 2003, and assigned to Imation Corp. of Oakdale, Minn.; Molstad et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,781,778, TIME-BASED SECTORED SERVO DATA FORMAT, issued Aug. 24, 2004, and assigned to Imation Corp. of Oakdale, Minn.; and Johnson et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,950,269, SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR USING SERVOPOSITIONING SIGNALS, issued Sep. 17, 2005, and assigned to Imation Corp. of Oakdale, Minn.
Overall read and write performance thus depends on the servo system capabilities, and specifically on servo head design. In particular, the servo head should be adaptable to read and write a variety of different servo patterns, with increased timing response for precise head positioning and increased read and write performance for a range of high density, high data rate magnetic storage systems.